A high-order nodally bound-preserving and mass-conservative method for linear fourth-order elliptic problems and its applications to nonlinear parabolic equations
Abstract
We propose a high-order finite element method for linear fourth-order elliptic problems that is both nodally bound-preserving and mass-conservative, based on a variational inequality formulation. The method admits an equivalent strictly convex minimization structure, which ensures well-posedness and enables an optimal error estimate in the -seminorm, under suitable regularity assumptions. This framework is further extended to nonlinear fourth-order parabolic problems through space--time high-order discretizations that combine variational inequalities, BDF schemes, and scalar auxiliary variable (SAV) techniques. The fully discrete schemes preserve nodal bounds and mass, and a modified energy stability result is established for the first-order temporal scheme. We also apply the same framework to nonlinear second-order parabolic problems by introducing a consistent fourth-order regularization, leading to space--time high-order schemes with the same bound-preserving and mass-conservative properties. Extensive numerical results, including challenging tests with singularities and low regularity, demonstrate the stability, efficiency, and high-order accuracy of the proposed methods.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2605.23486,
title = {A high-order nodally bound-preserving and mass-conservative method for linear fourth-order elliptic problems and its applications to nonlinear parabolic equations},
author = {Jie Shen and Zuodong Wang},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.23486},
year = {2026}
}